Since this course is "project-based," the assignments are designed to build toward a meaningful purpose. We investigated schools so that we could answer the question:
Have the reform efforts of the last decade (NCLB and RTTT) affected Rhode Island Schools?
Stoney Lane Elementary is one of six public elementary schools in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. According to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) (2014), Stony Lane Elementary was home to 410 students and 28 teachers during the 2012-2013 school year. The school serves students from kindergarten through the fifth grade. It was not until the 2010-2011 school year that grades four and five were added (RIDE, 2014). The purpose of this brief report is to determine the effect that Race to the Top (RTTP) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) had on this particular school. Interest into the impacts of RTTP and NCLB is fostered in the question: how do educational policies affect schools that perform at higher levels than the state averages? Looking at data retrieved from RIDE (2009a; 2014), I was able to examine large amounts of data and have identified valuable information pertinent to this school.
Stony Lane has fewer students receiving subsidized lunch (8%) compared to the state overall (46%). In addition, Stony Lane serves a smaller population of students compared to the state average who receive special needs services and/or ESL/bilingual education services (RIDE, 2014). According to RIDE (2009b) SALT Survey reports, 97% of the students were classified as white, 1.5% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1.5% black. The demographics of the school help to serve as a representation of the socioeconomic climate that this school serves.
Mathematics data from 2001 indicates that 75% of fourth grade students met the standards in math skills, but only 23% met the level of proficiency in mathematic problem solving. In English Language Arts, basic reading, 86% of students met the standard, and in reading analysis 70% of students met the standard (RIDE, 2009a). In 2011- 2012, 88% of fourth grade students had reached the level of proficiency (RIDE, 2014). During this time, the test that is used to determine the data as well as the administration of Stony Lane Elementary School had changed. The 13 point gain would be substantial if the measure in which they were assessed remained the same. However, since the measure of the assessment has changed, the reliability and validity of the test scores has been diminished.
There have been years where test scores regressed. From 2005-2007, Stony Lane experienced a 9 point increase in mathematics. However from 2006-2007 to 2009, Stony Lane experienced a 6 point decrease in mathematics. In addition, the free and reduced lunch numbers decreased from 12% to 8% during the 2012-2013 school year. The school is still far ahead of the states average and an argument can be made to the difficulties that may occur when trying to maintain such a high level of proficiency. The ebb and flow of year to year data makes it difficult to analyze the data, but there is opportunity to compare Stony Lane to other schools in the state (RIDE, 2009).
In 2004 there was a 16% gap between students proficient in 4th grade mathematics between Stony Lane Elementary and the state of Rhode Island (RIDE, 2009a). The 2013-2014 NECAP scores show a 25% gap in proficiency levels at the 4th grade mathematics (RIDE, 2014). Goals of NCLB and RTTP were to close the gap between low-performing and high-performing schools. This data indicates that this has not happened. In fact, the opposite has happened.
From 2001 to present the school has undergone change. Change occurred in 2010-2011 that added two grade levels. Change also occurred on multiple occasions in administration. In 2009 Stony Lane named Edward Ferrario principal. Edward Ferrario is the third principal the school has had since 2001. Edward Ferrario has been a part of making Stony Lane a blue ribbon school, and had recently been named Rhode Island Principal of the year. Change in personnel, administrators, and experience for teachers could also be considered factors in the testing results (RIDE, 2009).
It is difficult and possibly irresponsible to determine if the increase/decrease of scores over different years is a product of NCLB or RTTT, or if the scores are a result of changes in administration, change in testing, or from experience in testing. Schools, such as Stony Lane, who perform at a higher level of proficiency than other schools in the state, continue to outperform other schools. In conclusion, RTTP and NCLB are policies that have played a role in continuing the education of students at Stony Lane Elementary, and maintaining their level, and in some cases increasing their level of proficiency versus the rest of the state.
Hamilton Elementary School (revision)-YingyingZhang
Information of school
Address: 25 Salisbury Avenue North Kingstown, RI, 02852 (401) 268-6520 District: North Kingstown Year compared: 2002 vs. 2013 Subjects compared: Math and reading(or English language art) Grade compared: Grade4 Data Resource:http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/ Student Demographics: 96% white, 1% Asian, 1% Hispanic, 1% African American, 1% Multiracial
Introduction: This article focuses on Hamilton Elementary School demographics and achievement test scores. It compares data gathered from Infroworks! In 2002 and 2013, seeking to see if NCLB and RTTT make a difference in students’scores and reach the conclusion. It is important to do this survey tin order to get an idea of what NCLB and RTTT impact in North Kingston and Rhode Island. Hamilton Elementary School is one of the eight schools in District North Kingstown.Grades range from kindergarten to fifth grade. In 2002, there was 458 students, more than 437 students in 2013 even though Kindergarten-3 was added in the school year 2010-2011. However, there was an increase in teachers' number from 20 to 31. Hamilton Elementary School is affluent in an overall view with a stable students characteristics and less needs form culture and language. According to their data, around 96% of the students are white, and less than 1% students are taking ESL classes.(2002, 0%;2013,<1%). The of students are all higher than the state in both of the two years. Students who has subsidized lunch take less percentage comparing with the state average. However, there are still some differences in students characteristics. The rate for students who has subsidized lunch goes higher in 2013, from 5% to 13%, while students who receive special education are getting less, from 16% to 7%.
Academic performance of school
Hamilton Elementary School is a high-performing school in all these years. Students get higher scores than state average in both years and subjects. In 2002, we could get more details of the data of each part of math and English language art. In 2013, we could only get the general results. Here we will use percentage matching methods to estimate, there should be some error in estimating. As long as the data difference is obvious, we could still get some conclusions. To explain percentage matching, you could take a look at the table below. In order to compare, I would like to keep state rates the same and change the rate of school. For example, in 2013, school rate vs. State rate is 86% vs. 63%, we now split this rate into three parts. We will keep the state rates (in yellow )in both years are the same(63%, 35%, 27%), then 86% vs. 63% could be changed to (86% vs. 63%, 48% vs. 35%, 37% vs. 27%)
2002 (This school-the state)
2013(This school-the state)
Math
skills
88%-63%
86%-63%(by estimate)
conceptions
58%-35%
48%-35%(by estimate)
problem-solving
36%-27%
37%-27%(by estimate)
Math
86%-63%
Results analysis: From the table above, by using percentage matching methods , we could find the it has no big difference in skills and problem-solving. But math scores get lower in concepts in 2013 by about 10%.
2002(This school-the state)
2013(This school- the state)
English language art
understanding
89%-69%
83%-69%(by estimate)
analysis and interpretation
82%-57%
68%-57%(by estimate)
writing effectiveness
73%-63%
76%-63%(by estimate)
writing conversations
78%-56%
67%-56%(by estimate)
Reading
84%-70%
Results analysis: From the table above, by using percentage matching methods , we could find the reading scores get a little lower in English analysis and writing conversations in 2013. Summary: As a whole, we could see in these two years, students are doing good, much higher than the state level. Math and English scores go a little lower in some aspects literally, but there are no significant differences.
Conclusion
For school demographics, as most of the data seems no different, there are two significant changes in 2013. There are less students at school, but more poor students (5%-13%). At the same time, special education drops greatly, almost drops half(16%-7%). For influences on the tests scores, we could get the conclusion that NCLB and RTTT did not influence the scores in these two years too much. The scores have changed a little bit (with a little dropping in some aspects), but without significant differences. Since there is still little dropping in 2013, we may take poverty into consideration. For less special education, there are no obvious evidences to show the meaning and reasons behind it. Generally, the school should pay enough attention to special education and poor students. However, no matter what NCLB has influenced Rhode Island, Rhode Island get the state more freedom to implement reforms and increased flexibility. In May 29, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education today announced that Rhode Island’s application for a waiver from key provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has been granted after Rhode Island adopted several education reforms to improve school accountability, enhance teacher and principal effectiveness, turn around low-performing schools.
I have selected to analyze the progress shown from pre-No child left Behind through today’s Race to The Top Department of Education grade school funding initiatives from the 2001-02 through the 2012-13 school years for Davisville Middle School, one of two middle schools within the North Kingstown School District. I chose to analyze this data to find out if increased teacher training, higher teacher quality standards, test preparation and administration mandates related to this funding were helping to increase academic outcomes for Davisville Middle School students.
I set out to answer the following questions: Did the overall student test scores improve? How did the economic recession in Rhode Island impact learner outcomes? What investments did the North Kingstown School District make in their teaching staff and student body that worked to create a better environment in which to learn and assist students to be more prepared to learn and to fully master more stringent math and language arts literacy standards of Common Core mandates for funding?
I want to show how taking a holistic view of a child, taking into account family or socioeconomic barriers to education, and making excellent investments in teachers and support staff helped Davisville Middle School students to make great strides educationally since 2001 when NCLB was instituted. I will research if there are any programs in place to support at risk children with socioeconomic barriers to learning from the Davisville community which is an area where many of North Kingstown’s low income earners and most impoverished families reside in low income housing developments. I also plan to investigate what steps were or are being taken to minimize the financial strain for working families or those in poverty that can severely impair student academic achievement in terms of nutrition, mobility(transportation issues), and the ability to overcome various economic barriers to learning(i.e. lack of a computer or tablet, school supplies, or adequate clothing).
Davisville Middle School, home of the Davisville Dragons, is one of two middle schools within North Kingstown School District in the northern half of the town of North Kingstown, located at 200 School Street which has a resident population of 26,486 and covers an area of 58.3 square miles. This middle school at Davisville Village serves 523 students in grades 6 through 8 and employs 52 teachers. (Infoworks Rhode Island Schools Data. 2014. Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/davisville-middle-school. ) The leadership staff for this school consists of Superintendent Phil Auger, Principal Ruthanne Logan, and Assistant Principal Marisa Eisner.(Administration List for Davisville Middle School. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.edlinesites.net/pages/Davisville_Middle_School/Administration/Office/Main_Office) Davisville Middle School’s Mission Statement is : “Committed to providing our students with pathways for academic and personal success through challenging and diverse educational opportunities.” School Motto. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.edlinesites.net/pages/Davisville_Middle_School)
The Davisville area of North Kingstown is the product of a rich military and industrial background beginning the late 1930’s as a World War II Quonset Military Base. Many workers came to work and later relocated their families to the community surrounding the Quonset Naval Base. Fortunately, today there are growing job opportunities available to area residents in the defense industries and various corporations with offices in close proximity to Davisville at Quonset Point Business Park where a variety of manufacturing and defense industry corporations exist. The Quonset Point Business Park employs many area residents with construction and industrial related jobs. The two other most increased job types in North Kingstown outside of the business and medical arenas related to the improving economy in the Davisville area are teachers and first responders. This area also has a strong history as a summer vacation destination which is still the case today.(North Kingstown Demographic Data. 2014. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Kingstown,_Rhode_Island#Demographics)
I have selected to analyze for progress shown from pre-NCLB or Race to the Top (2001-2002)to the most recent school year data 2012-2013 For Davisville Middle School, one of two middle schools within North Kingstown School District. There are programs in place to support at risk children who face socioeconomic learning challenges from the Davisville community, an area where many of North Kingstown's most impoverished families reside in low income housing developments or due to financial strain for working families throughout the northern segment of North Kingstown School District.
In an effort to show evidence as to poverty having a direct link to student academic progress, I will compare the percentages of students at both Wickford and Davisville Middle Schools who fall at or below the poverty line. First, North Kingstown has a median family income of $69,559
the fourth highest median income in the state of all municipalities. However, even in this affluent community, there are pockets of children in poverty which is what the following comparison will demonstrate. (Income data. 2013 Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_locations_by_per_capita_income) North Kingstown has a family poverty rate of 18.8% with children under the age of 18 representing 9.6% of that statistic, about half of all poverty level residents. As of June 12, 2012 the number of children who were at or below the poverty line was 24.5% of the student body, 130 students total, who attend Davisville Middle School. At Wickford Middle School, in the southern half of North Kingstown, the percentage of students in poverty was less than half of Davisville Middle at 11% of the student body. That said, it is no surprise that scores at Wickford Middle School are higher than those at Davisville Middle School.
A comparison of math, reading, and writing between pre-NCLB and RTTT in 2001 through its existence up to 2013 shows great improvement in standardized test scores throughout 6th,7th, and 8th grades. It is safe to assume that a lot more funding is being used to train staff and students about test preparation and administering the NECAP and various other tests used to measure proficiency in these three target subject areas. I am also concluding that increased nutritional and other wraparound school services are helping to improve the learning readiness and achievement levels of Davisville Middle School's students as evidenced by the following reported statistical information.
In 2012-2013 25% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch at Davisville Middle which is a year round lunch and weekend nutritional program for any student who indicates nutritional challenges at Davisville Middle School. Seven years ago, these on sight services did not exist on a large scale at North Kingstown's most poverty-stricken schools. (Free or Reduced Lunch Data. 2012.(http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/search/data?category=student-characteristics&q=school%2Fdavisville-middle-school&year=2012)
(www.nksd.net/familylearningcenter). As an assumed result of recession and a slowly recovering economy today, the number of Davisville Middle School students recieving lunch assistance has sharply increased to 13% since 2001. Although nutritional and financial needs of students have sharply increased, academic progress has in spite of all odds increased as well. This leads me to conclude that learning delivery, test preparation training, and curriculum changes have improved overall academic success. In addition, it seems that the school based nutritional support services are helping to better prepare children to learn throughout tough economic times for their families.
2013-2014 school year:
6th Grade Reading-84%
6th grade Math-77%
7th Grade Reading-79%
7th Grade math 68%
8th gr reading 87%
Writing 78%
Math 77%
In 2001-2002, 16%of Davisville students participated in the free or reduced lunch program. Achievement test score results from this time period are only given for the 8th grade which are the following:
8th Grade Math-50%
8th Grade Reading-60%
8th Grade Writing-65
2006 Statewide NECAP
8th Grade Reading- 56%
8th Grade Writing- 48%
8th Grade Math-47%
2009-10 NECAP
6th Grade Math
2009-10
73%
59%
view details
6th Grade Reading
2009-10
77%
68%
view details
7th Grade Math
2009-10
71%
54%
view details
7th Grade Reading
2009-10
83%
70%
view details
8th Grade Math
2009-10
68%
55%
view details
8th Grade Reading
2009-10
82%
71%
view details
8th Grade Writing
2009-10
no data
no data
view details
8th Grade Science
2009-10
42%
22%
view details
2012-2013 NECAP
8th Grade Writing-56%
8th Grade Reading-74%
8th Grade Math-57%
I conclude from the data that there has been a lot of improvement in the test scores overall since NCLB and Race to the Top were put in place. I will assume that more resources are being placed upon test readiness and testing in general of math, reading, and writing subjects of learning. Teacher quality may also have increased with increased teacher preparation requirements and higher score benchmarks by the RI Department of Education. The overall test scores for Davisville Middle have gone up even though the students in need of nutritional assistance has increased by 12% This leads me to believe that there are nutritional assistance programs at the school to address hunger challenged students which would help to explain the increased scores across the board. There are also support services for school supplies, tutoring, and counseling available to all students which is essential for children to be prepared to learn and to thrive throughout the school year as well as the summer months.
I am also aware of other support systems such as a 21st Century Skills grant funded and partially privately funded Monday through Friday After School Enrichment Program, an on-campus Family Learning Center, and the Blessings in a Backpack program which address student needs for essential school supplies, counseling, tutoring, year-round nutritional challenges, and student self-esteem building learning opportunities with peers beyond the regular school day. For FY 2012, $189,658 was allocated to North Kingstown School District(RI Senate Allocations, FY 2012, www.ri.gov). Dr. Michele Humbryrd explained to the school district that the NCLB and RTTT funding helped pay for new teaching staff members, common core standards support materials, instructional improvement method training, PARCC Assessment development, educator training opportunities,hiring of additional support staff, and improved technology for the district's classrooms(www.nksd.net/schoolcommitteeminutes).
The following RIDE data explains the excellent progress being made by the students and staff at Davisville Middle School. The commended status is not far from reality for Davisville Middle as you can see from the chart I have included below(www.infoworks.ride.ri.gov). After more than a decade of additional funding for wraparound services for North Kingstown's neediest student population as well as making effective investments, Davisville Middle School is well on its way to joining its sister school Wickford Middle as a Commended School by the Rhode Island Department of Education. Fortunately, the funds allocated by state, federal, and private funding sources were used to improve education for all North Kingstown School District students which is indicated by higher overall student academic achievement not only at Davisville Middle School, but also district-wide.
The following are the Race to The Top goals for North Kingstown School District for 2009-2014:
District Goals and Performance Measures 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Students entering the fourth grade will be proficient in reading on NECAP
79% - 80 83 86 90
-The gap between white and black students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between white and Hispanic students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between non-economically disadvantaged students and economically disadvantaged students will be cut in
half. 2009-24% - 2011-20% 2012-17% 2013- 14% 2014-12%
-The gap between students without IEPs and those with IEPs will be cut in half
2009-67%,2011 - 60%,2012- 52% 2013-44%, 2014- 34%
Students entering the fourth grade will be proficient in mathematics on NECAP
2009-73%, 2010 - 77%,2012- 83%, 2013- 87%, 2014- 90%
-The gap between white and black students will be cut in half.
--- - - - - -
-The gap between white and Hispanic students will be cut in half.
--- - - - - -
-The gap between non-economically disadvantaged students and economically disadvantaged students will be cut in
half 2009-23%, 2011 - 20%,2012- 17%,2013- 14%,2014- 12%
-The gap between students without IEPs and those with IEPs will be cut in half
2009-55%,2011 - 50%,2012- 44%,2013- 36%, 2014- 28%
Students entering the eighth grade will be proficient in reading on NECAP
2009-84%,2011- 85%, 2012- 86%,2013- 88%,2014- 90%
-The gap between white and black students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between white and Hispanic students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between non-economically disadvantaged students and economically disadvantaged students will be cut in
half 2009-32%,2011 - 28%,2012- 24%,2013- 20%,2014- 16%
-The gap between students without IEPs and those with IEPs will be cut in half
2009-60%,2011- 50%,2012- 42%,2013- 36%, 2014-30%
Students entering the eighth grade will be proficient in mathematics on NECAP
2009-69%,2011 - 73%, 2012-77%,2013- 81%,2014- 85%
-The gap between white and black students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between white and Hispanic students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between non-economically disadvantaged students and economically disadvantaged students will be cut in
half 2009-44%,2011- 36%,2012- 32%,2013- 28%,2014- 22%
-The gap between students without IEPs and those with IEPs will be cut in half
2009-53%,2011- 48%,2012- 42%,2013- 35%,2014- 27%
85% of students who first entered 9th grade 4 years prior will graduate from high school
2009-92%, 2011 - 93%,2012- 93%,2013- 94%,2014- 94%
77% of students who graduate from high school will enroll in an institution of higher education (IHE) within 16
months of receiving a diploma 2009-79%,2011 - 81%,2012- 82%,2013- 83%,2014- 84%
90% of students who enroll in an institution of higher education will complete at least one year's worth of
credit within two years of enrollment in the IHE 2009-91%,2011%- 92%,2012- 92%,2013- 93%,2014- 93%
--- = Gaps are not displayed where the number of students tested in either of the subgroups being compared is less than 10.
NA = No performance measures are availabl e for this item due to the grade configuration or due to the opening date of this LEA.
Above are excellent goals that have been met or surpassed by many North Kingstown schools. This district had goals and has a focus on children and helping all students to be effective and successful learners(NKSD School District Budget Request Document, January 10.2011, Town Council Minutes, p. 11).
The chart below explains the individual progress being made in terms of overall NECAP test subject progress. The categories stand for the following concepts:
"Proficiency" means the number of students who are proficient or better(30 possible points).
"Progress" means whether or not the school is meeting its target scores(10 possible points).
"Gap Closure" stands for whether or not a school is serving all students including students who are learning challenged or ESL(30 possible points).
"Distinction" means the number of students who have excelled in all NECAP areas(5 possible points). Growth refers to whether or not ALL students are making progress at the school(25 possible points).
"Graduation rates" is a high school's ability to promote its students (high schools only with possible 20 point score, measure does not apply to middle schools or elementary schools)
"High School Score change" is whether the graduation and NECAP score rates improve each year for a possible 5 points, again not applying to Davisville Middle School's AMO Summary.
Each year, at year's end, schools are classified from best to worst with the following designations with Commended as the absolute best designation you can receive and Priority being the worst.
Here are the school designation definitions:
Commended-(Highest Rhode Island Grade School Designation)Strongest performance across categories while serving all students well.
Leading-Strong gains in reading and math, few gaps between groups of students and/or showing student improvement.
Typical-Performance at or near state average with pockets of success and/or challenges in one or more subject areas.
Warning-Combination of low achievement in reading and math, unacceptable learning gaps, little to no student achievement or poor graduation rates as well as failure to test
required number of students in the school.
Focus-Below standard achievement in math and reading and/or unacceptable achievment gaps.
Priority-The worst of the worst ranking a school can get which is attained through having the least achievement in reading and math, intolerable learning gaps in student performance, and little to no progress in improving student outcomes.
The RI school rating system used to classify a school is broken into a 100 point score per school that is achieved by exceling in seven specific school wide benchmarks in regard to NECAP or New England Common Assessment Program scores.
As you can deduct from the above NECAP scores, Davisville has more than cut achievement and learner gaps by more than half, their RI Department of Education mandated goal,which is why it has scored a point below the "Commended " status and will likely be a "Commended" school in the next few years if the same rate of progress takes place in those academic years. If Principal Logan continues to employ highly qualified teachers, uses the same or more intense professional development plan, and retains excellent veteran teahcers, she can lead Davisville to "Commended" status.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (RTTT) are federal legislation that attempted to raise the quality of schools in the United States. The definition of success in NCLB and RTTT are closely tied to test scores. NCLB was signed into law in 2002 and in order to gauge the effectiveness of the legislation we will look at a specific school in Rhode Island and try to see if there is measurable improvement since the passing of the legislation. On this page I will look at the demographics of Rogers High School in Newport RI, I will examine test scores from before NCLB, before RTTT, and the most recent data in an attempt to see if there has been any effect.
Rogers High School was founded in 1873 when William Sanford Rogers donated $100,000 to Newport “for the education of youth”. It took the place of Newport High School which had been founded in 1843. It serves as the only high school in the Newport Public School District and moved to its current location in 1957. The school mascot is the Vikings and the symbol is the Rogers family coat of arms, in honor of the founder. There were 587 students at the school for the 2012-2013 school year with 60 teachers. The student body is slightly more diverse than most of Rhode Island with 72.2% self reporting as white compared with 78.3% at the state level. (“About Rogers High School,” n.d.)
At first glance, Rogers High School seems to be a school that is moving in the wrong direction in mathematics and is a shining success in reading. In 2000 over 60%*^ of the students were found to be “meeting standards” in math and fewer than 40% were “meeting standards” in reading. In 2013 the percentage of students “proficient” at math was 25% and 80% were “proficient” in reading. These numbers would be justifiable cause for alarm at the quality of mathematic instruction at Rogers High School if “meeting standards” was equivalent to “proficient”. The problem comes when one realizes that the state of Rhode Island adopted the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) in 2005 and revised the grading scale of the NECAP for 11th graders in 2008. Either of these events makes it difficult to track progress over time and the two of them together complicates things even more. The same issue derails the ability to celebrate the amazing increase in reading ability.#
Based on test scores, it is not possible to definitively say if No Child Left Behind (NCLB) or Race to the Top (RTTT) have been effective. Due to the total shift in testing standards since the passing of NCLB legislation in the early 21st century, it is difficult to say whether the education reforms have been successful or detrimental to Rogers High School. Tracking tested “proficiency” across multiple years is difficult and, due to the constantly changing tests and scoring systems, makes drawing reasonable and useful conclusions almost impossible. Since NCLB started in the early 2000’s the exams used to test proficiency changed to the NECAP, and the definition of proficiency was changed making it difficult to get an independent gauge of NCLB’s impact on Rogers High School. The new scoring scale for the NECAP, which went into effect the year before RTTT began, destroys any frame of reference for RTTT and makes it challenging to compare pre-RTTT Rogers High School with post-RTTT Rogers High School.
There are too many confounding factors to say whether the reform movement has helped with non-academic aspects of student life at Rogers High School. The quality of life indicators at Rogers High School seem like a condemnation of NCLB and RTTT. Since the year 2000 graduation rates have dropped from 87.01% (4% higher than Rhode Island average) to 68.2% (11.5% lower than Rhode Island average).The number of students eligible for free/reduced lunch has risen from 29% to 45%(“Rogers High School,” 2013). This is especially notable because the 17% increase in Rogers High School student eligibility occurred over the same time it took the state of Rhode Island to see an 11% increase in eligibility. Not only was the increase in eligibility larger than the state average, it brought Rogers High School from 6% below the state average to just 1% below the state average for subsidized lunch.
The only way for test scores to meaningfully diagnose the state of education in a school is for the test materials and scoring systems to be consistent and comparable. Since the inception of NCLB, the testing format or the scoring system has changed every 4-5 years, which makes meaningful analysis of the data close to impossible. RTTT started at the same time as the test score overhaul giving no frame of reference for whether it has been successful. The data points from the 5 years it has been active vary by as much as 20% “proficiency” between years with no clear trend to the data. (“Rogers High School,” 2013) Based on the inconsistencies in testing at the state level, the most useful tool for discovering the impact of NCLB and RTTT seems to be the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. Unfortunately, for the scope of this project, the data is confidential, therefore the scores are not linked to a given school and so NCLB and RTTT's impact on Rogers High School cannot be deciphered from it.
The William J. Underwood School was one of four elementary schools serving students in Newport between kindergarten and fourth grade, but it is closed in June 2013. 195 children attend William J. Underwood School and identify primarily as Black, non-Hispanic; White, non-Hispanic; and Multiracial. According to the data of 2012-2013, White students took 71% (state average: 63%), Hispanic students took 16% (state average: 22%), Native American took 7% (state average: 1%), 7% of students are multiracial (state average: 3%), 4% of students are African-American (state average: 8%), 1% is Asian-American (state average: 3%).(Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013) Its principal was Kimberly Behan. William J. Underwood Elementary School met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2009. In this passage, I will collect data of this school and analyze them to see the development of it and the effect of educational reforms on it.
Student Achievement on Math in Third Grade
In 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, 68% and 79% of students met the state standards. Compared with the state average level which are 60% both years, Underwood students scored better in math test. Looking back to 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, 86% and 47% students met the standards, from which we can see that the score of students in these two year dropped a lot and the average of these two year are lower than 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013)
Useful information about Students
With the unchanged attendance rate of 95%, from 2005 to 2013, the stability and mobility index changed from 61% (Average RI elementary school: 85%) and 39%(Average RI elementary school:18%) to 77% (Statewide: 87%) and 25% (Statewide: 14%), thus this school's population of citizens was becoming more and more stable, but compared with average level, is still a little more mobile. In 2005-2006, 35% students are eligible for subsidized lunch, while, in 2012-2013, it changed to 39%. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2006 & 2013)
Conclusion
According the the data above, from 2005 to 2013, Underwood school really did better gradually. It kept a high rate of attendance and made the population of citizens more stable. Although the rate of poor students became a little higher, the academic performance of this school became much better.
Have current reform efforts such as NCLB and RTTT affected RI schools?
It's hard to say if NCLB created a good efficiency on this school because the rate of students who met the state standards in assessment kept varying a lot after NCLB started at the beginning of 21st century until 2011. In the recent years, the pattern or the rate of students who met the state standards kept much more even and higher than before, so I think maybe this phenomenon is related to RTTT. However, I cannot say for sure that RTTT made schools improve a lot because the result of assessment depends a lot on the standards of the test.
Frank E. Thompson Middle School, Newport, RI after renovations
Frank E. Thompson Middle School is a middle school in Newport, Rhode Island. Thompson has 379 students that are of various demographics. This school is an interesting place because it is in downtown Newport. Newport is a place that is highly visited in the summers by wealthy individuals and has been since the early 1900s. After the tourists and families with summer homes leave for the school year and the fall starts creeping in, you start to see a different kind of Newport. Students of all backgrounds enter their schools to begin the school year. Thompson Middle School is a good description of the Newport's residents. The school is 69 percent white and 37 percent black with 69 percent of the students receiving subsidized lunch. The middle school underwent construction from 2007-2010. During which time all grades were scattered throughout Newport. The brand new school, replacing the old building is located on Broadway in Newport. There isn't a field for physical education classes because the school is in the middle of the city. The students use various public parks nearby for outdoor activities. Over the years Thompson has had three different principals and numerous deans running the school(s) (different facilities throughout Newport during 2007-2010. When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) hit Newport the students' reading and math scores did improve slightly, but with the amount of money of NCLB its pedagogies, the research indicates that NCLB might not have been the reason of why students started doing better. I chose to research Thompson Middle School because I'm interested in the differences in incomes and zoning in Newport. Newport is such a fascinating place, that many of us forget that there is a high percentage of section 8 housing and poverty between the mansions and yachts.
Looking at the academic performance of 8th graders from 2000-2001 it shows that before No Child Left Behind was put into place almost half of the students (41 percent) were proficient with reading and only 25 percent were proficient in math. Once NCLB was put into place reading scores improved did improve for the 2008-2009 school year for the 8th graders. (http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/pdf/ds-achieve/21d-achi.pdf) The percentage of proficiency went from 41 to 52 percent. (http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2002/pdf/21d-p1.pdf) There isn't enough research to determine why this was the case and there are probably multiple confounding variables, but one potential thought would be with NCLB, teachers were teaching more to the test and thus the students showed significant improvement. These are also two different sets of tests I am comparing. The tests from 2001-2002 could have been a much more difficult test. But, it is safe to conclude that if NCLB was sent out to schools across the nation to improve test scores, regardless of how teaching would be done to improve them, then NCLB did do slight improvement at Thompson Middle School in reading.
As far as math scores go, Thompson Middle School shows that in 2001-2002 only 25 percent of the 8th grade student population were proficient. That is significantly below average. After NCLB was put into place the 8th grade math scores rose to 42 percent proficient. This is a pretty significant increase. As far as understanding how this happened and why this happened, more research would need to be done in order to determine what the school did differently. NCLB definitely helped Thompson Middle School in math proficiency, according to standardized test data, not according to anything else.
With this brief data it is hard to say if No Child Left Behind made a positive difference at Thompson Middle School. According to the standardized test scores, it did. I'd be weary to say that NCLB worked for Thompson because I do not have the research to prove that it did. The tests results show that if the teachers were teaching to the test, then their scores were risen as such. If the test results prove that teachers were trying different learning approaches and strategies and students were as a whole completely comprehending the learning pedagogies, then NCLB worked. NCLB was put in place in order for schools to show how well they were doing. If school came down to just strictly test scores, then it is valid to say that Thompson Middle School improved significantly once NCLB was put into place.
Thompson Middle School State Assessments 8th grade 2000-2001, 2008-2009 (With No Child Left Behind and without No Child Left Behind)
Different Tests: Looking at data if No Child Left Behind Made A Difference Math Percentages 8th grade TMS 2008-2009 42% proficient 22% below 27% far below
Math Percentages 8th grade TMS 2000-2001 25% proficient 29% barely 20% far below
Calcutt Middle School is one of six schools and the only public middle school in Central Falls School District. It has seen a significant decrease in enrolled students between the 2005-2006 school year and the 2013-2014 school year, despite the fact that in 2012-2013 fifth grade was added to the building. This may be due at least in part to the opening of two charter schools in Central Falls in recent years. It's student population is very diverse and a significant portion receive special programs and services.They do offer a variety of programs for students, including Summer Learning Program (RIDE Model Program), Computer Lab, Science NECAP prep, an interactive literacy program, reading writing math interventions, and Credit Recovery (“Programs/Activities,” n.d.).
In the 2005-2006 school year, according to the No Child Left Behind report card, Calcutt was classified as making Insufficient Progress; only 22 of the 29 evaluated targets were met. NECAPs were given for the first time that year and the student population was 842 with 80 teachers. Although data for the ethnic breakdown of Calcutt was unavailable, district-wide 68% of the students were Hispanic, 18% were white and 14% were African American. Per pupil spending that year was $12,744, with 24% receiving bilingual/ESL services, much higher than the 3.7% receiving those services throughout the state. According to the same report 0% of students at Calcutt were receiving special education services, though that seems hard to believe. Of those students, 78% were eligible for free or reduced lunches, while only 33.3% qualified in the state (Infoworks 2006 Calcutt Student Information, 2007). Test results that year showed significant gaps in achievement between Calcutt 8th graders and those throughout RI. 16% of 8th grade students were math proficient, compared with 48% in RI; 27% were reading proficient, against 55% state-wide, and writing proficiency was 18%, significantly lower than the state result of 48%
(Infoworks 2006 Report Card Calcutt Middle School, 2006).
For the 2013-2014 school year, Calcutt's accountability summary led it to be classified as a Priority school, with only 2 of the evaluated targets being met (Infoworks 2012-2013 accountability summary Calcutt Middle School, 2013). The school educated 588 students in grades from 5-8 attend and were taught by 50 teachers. Students' ethnic backgrounds were reported as 71% Hispanic (74% district), 12% white (10% district) and 14% African America n (13% district). Per pupil spending rose to $18,910, an increase of $6,166 per student from the 2006-2006 school year. 94% of its students were eligible for subsidized lunches, compared with 46% in the state; 26% are receiving bilingual/ESL education,compared to 6% state-wide. While 24% of Calcutt students are receiving special education services, 15% are in Rhode Island. In the 2013-2014 school year, 8th graders once again took the NECAP tests in writing, reading and math. 15% of students were classified as proficient in the math, compared with 57% throughout the state. 39% of Calcutt students were proficient in reading, while in RI 74% were; 13% achieved proficiency in writing, while 56% were proficient state-wide (Infoworks 2013-14 Calcutt Middle School information, 2014). Interestingly, those two targets that were met on the NECAPs were reading and math for white students. All other ethnic groups fell below the intended targets.
Given the significant increase in per pupil spending between the 2005-2006 and the 2013-2014, No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top have had an influence at Calcutt. However, whether or not that money resulted in better student achievement can be open to interpretation. Reading scores improved from 27% to 39%, which is significant. However, math scores decreased 1%,and although that is not enough to say they were worse, it certainly is not enough to claim a victory. As for writing, the percentage dropped from 18% proficiency to 13%. If reading scores are the only indicator of success, it could be argued that the additional money served its intended purpose, but adding math and writing to the equation certainly makes success less clear.
Central Falls, and Calcutt Middle school in particular, has a student population that is far more diverse, with more needs than the rest of Rhode Island. Calcutt has seen a significant decrease in student population, though there are still far more students receiving free and subsidized lunches, ESL/bilingual education and special education services than the rest of the state. Given the costs of those services one can see how the per pupil expenditure can be high. When using only NECAP test results to analyze whether that money is being well spent, it appears that the funds poured in through No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top have not achieved what their supporters had hoped.
The following report will examine the demographics of Central Falls, the level of poverty within the school and the past few years data of NECAP testing in Central Falls High School. With this data, I hope to make conclusions about whether or not NCLB or RTTT have demonstrated a helpful alteration to this particular school.
"The mission of Central Falls High School is to cultivate academic, social and civic responsibility within the school community as we prepare students for participation in global society." Central Falls High School's goal was once considered a far reach considering the publicity the school has received within the past few years. Central Falls High School is noted as Rhode Islands lowest performing high school. The demographics of the school include a large number of ELL students and a larger proportion of blacks and Hispanics than whites. Central Falls as a whole has a greater number of children requiring free or reduced lunch indicating poverty. Central Falls also has a larger amount of crime and a larger proportion of single mothers (Kids Count).
The school website highlights that they are currently employing "transformation efforts" in order to increase graduation rates, improve proficiency in math and improve the school climate and culture. It might seem strange at first that the first thing a school would say about itself is a kind of apologetic description, however, in light of the recent education reform, the Common Core and the NECAP testing, the school has taken a lot of battering from commentators and education administration over the last few years.
In April of 2010, around 70 teachers, a few staff members, and the principal were fired from Central Falls High School. Despite the teacher’s union being against the proposal for reform of the school, the Central Falls school board voted to fire the teachers on recommendation from Frances Gallo, the school’s superintendent (huffpost). The school had a graduation rate of 48% and was known as the lowest performing school in Rhode Island (usa today)
NPR reporter, Claudio Sanchez, writes that the Central Falls school board re-hired the teachers on the condition that they would partake and support the school’s new reform “transformation.” However, since the rehiring, more teachers have been fired. Josh Karten, a history and business teacher for four years at Central Falls High School tells NPR reporters about his coping with the transformation and then being fired. NPR quotes Karten, saying that “Karten's enthusiasm took a dive after he was put in charge of the "restoration" room, a holding pen for the school's most disruptive students.” Karten asserts that the High School would not allow him to teach. Dispite Kartens purported struggle with the transformation, Superintendent Frances Gallo, asserts that there were valid reasons for firing Karten, and that it is unfortunate that he does not understand. Gallo and the Obama Administration seek to fix Central Falls High School by holding teachers accountable for students work and asserting that low expectations may be the cause of the school failing standardized tests as a whole (Sanchez, 2011).
Data from InfoWorks (2014) shows that there is a decrease in student attendance of 86% to 83% from 2001-2014. When evaluating the socioeconomic status there are a few indicators that one can observe. The stability index measures the percentage of students that have stayed in the district. The stability index went from 70% to 78% from 2001-2014. The mobility index measures the attrition rate of the school. The mobility index went from 41% to 24% 2001-2014. Possibly indicating that, despite a decrease in attendance, the population of citizens has become more stable over this period of time. The mobility indicates a less stable environment within the district, but it seems to be improving.
It is possible that some residents of Central Falls may have applied to charters, but there are only a couple of charter high school options within the immediate area. Currently, the student to teacher ratio is 13:1. Central Falls School District itself has a majority of students living in poverty as assessed by student eligibility for subsidized lunch programs, which decreased from 77% to 70% from 2001-2014. The majority of the students speak a language other than English, and the majority of the students are Hispanic in ethnicity.
Despite poverty and high amounts of ELL students, the school serves around 900 students and offers a variety of programs that they call Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELOs). The school uses the Common Core standards and also Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). There is also a common planning time for the teachers and students to review their progress, and they use Response to Intervention (RTI) methods to help struggling students to reach the benchmark goals in academics. Central Falls High School is the only high school served in its district.
Have current reform efforts such as NCLB and RTTT affected RI schools, especially those that serve Rhode Island's most impoverished students?
In 2001, NCLB was implemented in the United States, and around 2010, a mass firing and rehiring of teachers occurred. Central Falls High School was noted as a target school for reform turnaround. The school's superintendent, Frances Gallo, fired all of the teachers at the school to prevent a strike back from the teacher's union, changed the structure of the school's education system, then re-hired the teachers back into the district in 2010. With this in mind, one might hypothesize that the data from before 2010 may be very different from the data after 2010, when the teachers were re-hired.
The graphs above show the NECAP scores for math and reading in CF as compared to RI (InfoWorks, 2014). It appears to be increasing.
As compared to the statewide average of NECAP. These are the current documented scores:
RI
Math - 35%
Reading - 81%
Writing - 66%
Science - 30%
The information below shows the scores of Central Falls High School before the 2010 reform movement. The only scores that went down were those for reading:
The graphs below show proficiency of the NECAP over the course of 3 years for Math and Reading. The categories of gender, race and status are separated. This is useful because it is easier to identify social inequalities from this graph. The trend of the graph appears to be generally upward:
It appears that proficiency is improving, however slightly. Central Falls does remain below the state average. One would argue that reform efforts, although raising test scores by a few points, have not made their purported improvements after the reform. It might be that NCLB or RTTT have an effect, but it is also just as likely that the stability of the district and lowered attrition rates played a part, or that the teachers this year got stuck with kids who could score better on the standardized test. There is still no mounting evidence that firing teachers for student achievement will improve a school, however, there is mounting evidence that Central Falls High School is improving.
The Learning Community Charter School in Central Falls and Culcutt Middle School in Central Falls Have current reform efforts such as NCLB and RTTT affected RI schools, especially those that serve Rhode Island's most impoverished students? Introduction:
Part of the recent push within educational reform includes an emphasis on charter schools as a potential solution to low-performing schools. Central Falls is a low-income city in Rhode Island that is home to both public and charter schools. The Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls serves a high percentage of children living in poverty. More recently the Charter School “Learning Community” was opened nearby and serves some of the same population. Looking at the academic proficiency of both schools in the 2004-2005 and 2012-2013 school years will help answer the question of if a charter school serving the same population is an effective reform effort under NCLB. Below the standardized tests of both schools are examined in order to understand improvements or declines in both schools' performance.
The Calcutt Middle School was classified as a "low-performing school" which was "not improving" in 2001. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2001) At the time in 2000-2001, 73% of students were eligible for subsidized lunch. The student body was 62% Hispanic, 10% Black and 28% White, 25% of students received ESL and 23% are recipients of special ed service. The demographics of the school have changed and become more impoverished. In 2012-2013 94% of students were eligible for subsidized lunch as opposed to 46% statewide, and 73% in 2000-2001. Students receiving ESL were 26% versus 6% of state and students receiving special education were 24% versus 15% of the state. Below are the test patterns of the school years 2004-2005 and 2012-2013 when NECAP testing is available. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013)
In Math, the Culcutt School performed significantly worse than the state average in 2004-2005, and only slightly narrowed the gap in 2012-2013. However, the school performance did increase and the school is now classified as demonstrating “moderate improvement.” Below the Calcutt improvement can be seen by examining the blue (2004-2005) and green lines(2012-2013) in comparison with the state results (red: 2004-2005 and purple: 2012-2013). It is evident that more students were proficient in math by 2012-2013, and fewer were substantially below the proficient level. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013) For reading, a similar trend can be seen below:
Students at Culcutt performed below the state average in 2004-2005, and also in 2013-2014. When comparing the school’s progress over time it shows moderate improvement in rates of proficiency in reading (26% proficient or proficient with distinction in 2004-2005 compared to 36% proficient or proficient with distinction in 2013-2014).
In writing Culcutt’s scores decreased over time as seen below:
In 2004-2005 19% of students were proficient or proficient with distinction, and in 2013-2014 only 12% of students were proficient or proficient with distinction. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013) The data shows that Culcutt school have improved in reading and math, but decreased slightly in writing. This demonstrates that NCLB and RTTT have marginally benefitted the Culcutt Middle School regardless of the role of the charter school in the area.
The Learning Community:
(Learning Community, n.d.)
The Learning Community is a Charter School located near the Culcutt Middle School that was established in 2004 and has continued to grow in size over the last ten years. Differing from some criticism of charter schools, The Learning Community serves a very similar population as Culcutt Middle School. In 2012-13, 94% of students were eligible for subsidized lunch, the same percentage as Culcutt Middle School. In addition, 32% of students are ELL and 11% special education services.(Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013). Despite serving a very challenging and expensive population, as seen in the three charts below, the Learning Community outperforms the state and the Culcutt Middle School in every category.
Reading comparison: In Reading the Learning Community has higher levels of proficiency than both the state and Culcutt and significantly lower levels of "substantially below proficient" than Culcutt:
Math: In Math, a similar trend can be seen in which Learning Community outscores both the state and its neighboring Culcutt school substantially:
Writing: Again, in Writing the Learning Community shows higher levels of proficiency than either the state or Culcutt school:
In conclusion, the changes between years show some improvement in Culcutt scores, but with so many factors it is difficult to made strong and definite conclusions. No Child Left Behind and Race to The Top may or may not have had an impact on Culcutt School. Because the increase in scores was insignificant when compared to the state progress, it is difficult to make any firm conclusions. What is clear is that the Learning Community outscores the state and the Culcutt School in every category and by significant differences.
Since this course is "project-based," the assignments are designed to build toward a meaningful purpose. We investigated schools so that we could answer the question:
Have the reform efforts of the last decade (NCLB and RTTT) affected Rhode Island Schools?
North Kingstown
Stoney Lane Elementary is one of six public elementary schools in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. According to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) (2014), Stony Lane Elementary was home to 410 students and 28 teachers during the 2012-2013 school year. The school serves students from kindergarten through the fifth grade. It was not until the 2010-2011 school year that grades four and five were added (RIDE, 2014). The purpose of this brief report is to determine the effect that Race to the Top (RTTP) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) had on this particular school. Interest into the impacts of RTTP and NCLB is fostered in the question: how do educational policies affect schools that perform at higher levels than the state averages? Looking at data retrieved from RIDE (2009a; 2014), I was able to examine large amounts of data and have identified valuable information pertinent to this school.
Stony Lane has fewer students receiving subsidized lunch (8%) compared to the state overall (46%). In addition, Stony Lane serves a smaller population of students compared to the state average who receive special needs services and/or ESL/bilingual education services (RIDE, 2014). According to RIDE (2009b) SALT Survey reports, 97% of the students were classified as white, 1.5% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1.5% black. The demographics of the school help to serve as a representation of the socioeconomic climate that this school serves.
Mathematics data from 2001 indicates that 75% of fourth grade students met the standards in math skills, but only 23% met the level of proficiency in mathematic problem solving. In English Language Arts, basic reading, 86% of students met the standard, and in reading analysis 70% of students met the standard (RIDE, 2009a). In 2011- 2012, 88% of fourth grade students had reached the level of proficiency (RIDE, 2014). During this time, the test that is used to determine the data as well as the administration of Stony Lane Elementary School had changed. The 13 point gain would be substantial if the measure in which they were assessed remained the same. However, since the measure of the assessment has changed, the reliability and validity of the test scores has been diminished.
There have been years where test scores regressed. From 2005-2007, Stony Lane experienced a 9 point increase in mathematics. However from 2006-2007 to 2009, Stony Lane experienced a 6 point decrease in mathematics. In addition, the free and reduced lunch numbers decreased from 12% to 8% during the 2012-2013 school year. The school is still far ahead of the states average and an argument can be made to the difficulties that may occur when trying to maintain such a high level of proficiency. The ebb and flow of year to year data makes it difficult to analyze the data, but there is opportunity to compare Stony Lane to other schools in the state (RIDE, 2009).
In 2004 there was a 16% gap between students proficient in 4th grade mathematics between Stony Lane Elementary and the state of Rhode Island (RIDE, 2009a). The 2013-2014 NECAP scores show a 25% gap in proficiency levels at the 4th grade mathematics (RIDE, 2014). Goals of NCLB and RTTP were to close the gap between low-performing and high-performing schools. This data indicates that this has not happened. In fact, the opposite has happened.
From 2001 to present the school has undergone change. Change occurred in 2010-2011 that added two grade levels. Change also occurred on multiple occasions in administration. In 2009 Stony Lane named Edward Ferrario principal. Edward Ferrario is the third principal the school has had since 2001. Edward Ferrario has been a part of making Stony Lane a blue ribbon school, and had recently been named Rhode Island Principal of the year. Change in personnel, administrators, and experience for teachers could also be considered factors in the testing results (RIDE, 2009).
It is difficult and possibly irresponsible to determine if the increase/decrease of scores over different years is a product of NCLB or RTTT, or if the scores are a result of changes in administration, change in testing, or from experience in testing. Schools, such as Stony Lane, who perform at a higher level of proficiency than other schools in the state, continue to outperform other schools. In conclusion, RTTP and NCLB are policies that have played a role in continuing the education of students at Stony Lane Elementary, and maintaining their level, and in some cases increasing their level of proficiency versus the rest of the state.
References
Rhode Island Department of Education. (2009a). Information Works! Measuring Rhode Island schools for change. Retrieved from www.infoworks.ride.edu/2009/queries/FindSch.asp
Rhode Island Department of Education. (2009b). School Reports. Retrieved from www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/queries/FindSch.asp
Rhode Island Department of Education. (2014). Infoworks! Rhode Island education data reporting, Stony Lane Elementary School. Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/stony-lane-elementary-school
Stony Lane School Photo [Photograph]. (2014). Retrieved July 22, 2014 from http://www2.nksd.net/education/school/school.php?sectionid=14
Information of school
Address: 25 Salisbury Avenue North Kingstown, RI, 02852 (401) 268-6520
District: North Kingstown
Year compared: 2002 vs. 2013
Subjects compared: Math and reading(or English language art)
Grade compared: Grade4
Data Resource:http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/
Student Demographics: 96% white, 1% Asian, 1% Hispanic, 1% African American, 1% Multiracial
Introduction: This article focuses on Hamilton Elementary School demographics and achievement test scores. It compares data gathered from Infroworks! In 2002 and 2013, seeking to see if NCLB and RTTT make a difference in students’scores and reach the conclusion. It is important to do this survey tin order to get an idea of what NCLB and RTTT impact in North Kingston and Rhode Island.
Hamilton Elementary School is one of the eight schools in District North Kingstown.Grades range from kindergarten to fifth grade. In 2002, there was 458 students, more than 437 students in 2013 even though Kindergarten-3 was added in the school year 2010-2011. However, there was an increase in teachers' number from 20 to 31.
Hamilton Elementary School is affluent in an overall view with a stable students characteristics and less needs form culture and language. According to their data, around 96% of the students are white, and less than 1% students are taking ESL classes.(2002, 0%;2013,<1%). The of students are all higher than the state in both of the two years. Students who has subsidized lunch take less percentage comparing with the state average. However, there are still some differences in students characteristics. The rate for students who has subsidized lunch goes higher in 2013, from 5% to 13%, while students who receive special education are getting less, from 16% to 7%.
Academic performance of school
Hamilton Elementary School is a high-performing school in all these years. Students get higher scores than state average in both years and subjects. In 2002, we could get more details of the data of each part of math and English language art. In 2013, we could only get the general results. Here we will use percentage matching methods to estimate, there should be some error in estimating. As long as the data difference is obvious, we could still get some conclusions.
To explain percentage matching, you could take a look at the table below. In order to compare, I would like to keep state rates the same and change the rate of school. For example, in 2013, school rate vs. State rate is 86% vs. 63%, we now split this rate into three parts. We will keep the state rates (in yellow )in both years are the same(63%, 35%, 27%), then 86% vs. 63% could be changed to (86% vs. 63%, 48% vs. 35%, 37% vs. 27%)
From the table above, by using percentage matching methods , we could find the it has no big difference in skills and problem-solving. But math scores get lower in concepts in 2013 by about 10%.
Results analysis:
From the table above, by using percentage matching methods , we could find the reading scores get a little lower in English analysis and writing conversations in 2013.
Summary:
As a whole, we could see in these two years, students are doing good, much higher than the state level. Math and English scores go a little lower in some aspects literally, but there are no significant differences.
Conclusion
For school demographics, as most of the data seems no different, there are two significant changes in 2013. There are less students at school, but more poor students (5%-13%). At the same time, special education drops greatly, almost drops half(16%-7%).
For influences on the tests scores, we could get the conclusion that NCLB and RTTT did not influence the scores in these two years too much. The scores have changed a little bit (with a little dropping in some aspects), but without significant differences. Since there is still little dropping in 2013, we may take poverty into consideration. For less special education, there are no obvious evidences to show the meaning and reasons behind it. Generally, the school should pay enough attention to special education and poor students.
However, no matter what NCLB has influenced Rhode Island, Rhode Island get the state more freedom to implement reforms and increased flexibility. In May 29, 2012, the U.S. Department of Education today announced that Rhode Island’s application for a waiver from key provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has been granted after Rhode Island adopted several education reforms to improve school accountability, enhance teacher and principal effectiveness, turn around low-performing schools.
Reference:
Rhode Isalnd Education Data Reporting, I. (n.d.). Hamilton Elementary School. Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/hamilton-elementary-school
United States Senator for Rhode Isaland. (n.d.). RI Receives NCLB Waiver. Retrieved from http://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/ri-receives-nclb-waiver
I have selected to analyze the progress shown from pre-No child left Behind through today’s Race to The Top Department of Education grade school funding initiatives from the 2001-02 through the 2012-13 school years for Davisville Middle School, one of two middle schools within the North Kingstown School District. I chose to analyze this data to find out if increased teacher training, higher teacher quality standards, test preparation and administration mandates related to this funding were helping to increase academic outcomes for Davisville Middle School students.
I set out to answer the following questions: Did the overall student test scores improve? How did the economic recession in Rhode Island impact learner outcomes? What investments did the North Kingstown School District make in their teaching staff and student body that worked to create a better environment in which to learn and assist students to be more prepared to learn and to fully master more stringent math and language arts literacy standards of Common Core mandates for funding?
I want to show how taking a holistic view of a child, taking into account family or socioeconomic barriers to education, and making excellent investments in teachers and support staff helped Davisville Middle School students to make great strides educationally since 2001 when NCLB was instituted. I will research if there are any programs in place to support at risk children with socioeconomic barriers to learning from the Davisville community which is an area where many of North Kingstown’s low income earners and most impoverished families reside in low income housing developments. I also plan to investigate what steps were or are being taken to minimize the financial strain for working families or those in poverty that can severely impair student academic achievement in terms of nutrition, mobility(transportation issues), and the ability to overcome various economic barriers to learning(i.e. lack of a computer or tablet, school supplies, or adequate clothing).
Davisville Middle School, home of the Davisville Dragons, is one of two middle schools within North Kingstown School District in the northern half of the town of North Kingstown, located at 200 School Street which has a resident population of 26,486 and covers an area of 58.3 square miles. This middle school at Davisville Village serves 523 students in grades 6 through 8 and employs 52 teachers. (Infoworks Rhode Island Schools Data. 2014. Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/davisville-middle-school. ) The leadership staff for this school consists of Superintendent Phil Auger, Principal Ruthanne Logan, and Assistant Principal Marisa Eisner.(Administration List for Davisville Middle School. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.edlinesites.net/pages/Davisville_Middle_School/Administration/Office/Main_Office) Davisville Middle School’s Mission Statement is : “Committed to providing our students with pathways for academic and personal success through challenging and diverse educational opportunities.” School Motto. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.edlinesites.net/pages/Davisville_Middle_School)
The Davisville area of North Kingstown is the product of a rich military and industrial background beginning the late 1930’s as a World War II Quonset Military Base. Many workers came to work and later relocated their families to the community surrounding the Quonset Naval Base. Fortunately, today there are growing job opportunities available to area residents in the defense industries and various corporations with offices in close proximity to Davisville at Quonset Point Business Park where a variety of manufacturing and defense industry corporations exist. The Quonset Point Business Park employs many area residents with construction and industrial related jobs. The two other most increased job types in North Kingstown outside of the business and medical arenas related to the improving economy in the Davisville area are teachers and first responders. This area also has a strong history as a summer vacation destination which is still the case today.(North Kingstown Demographic Data. 2014. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Kingstown,_Rhode_Island#Demographics)
I have selected to analyze for progress shown from pre-NCLB or Race to the Top (2001-2002)to the most recent school year data 2012-2013 For Davisville Middle School, one of two middle schools within North Kingstown School District. There are programs in place to support at risk children who face socioeconomic learning challenges from the Davisville community, an area where many of North Kingstown's most impoverished families reside in low income housing developments or due to financial strain for working families throughout the northern segment of North Kingstown School District.
In an effort to show evidence as to poverty having a direct link to student academic progress, I will compare the percentages of students at both Wickford and Davisville Middle Schools who fall at or below the poverty line. First, North Kingstown has a median family income of $69,559
the fourth highest median income in the state of all municipalities. However, even in this affluent community, there are pockets of children in poverty which is what the following comparison will demonstrate. (Income data. 2013 Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_locations_by_per_capita_income) North Kingstown has a family poverty rate of 18.8% with children under the age of 18 representing 9.6% of that statistic, about half of all poverty level residents. As of June 12, 2012 the number of children who were at or below the poverty line was 24.5% of the student body, 130 students total, who attend Davisville Middle School. At Wickford Middle School, in the southern half of North Kingstown, the percentage of students in poverty was less than half of Davisville Middle at 11% of the student body. That said, it is no surprise that scores at Wickford Middle School are higher than those at Davisville Middle School.
A comparison of math, reading, and writing between pre-NCLB and RTTT in 2001 through its existence up to 2013 shows great improvement in standardized test scores throughout 6th,7th, and 8th grades. It is safe to assume that a lot more funding is being used to train staff and students about test preparation and administering the NECAP and various other tests used to measure proficiency in these three target subject areas. I am also concluding that increased nutritional and other wraparound school services are helping to improve the learning readiness and achievement levels of Davisville Middle School's students as evidenced by the following reported statistical information.
In 2012-2013 25% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch at Davisville Middle which is a year round lunch and weekend nutritional program for any student who indicates nutritional challenges at Davisville Middle School. Seven years ago, these on sight services did not exist on a large scale at North Kingstown's most poverty-stricken schools. (Free or Reduced Lunch Data. 2012.(http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/search/data?category=student-characteristics&q=school%2Fdavisville-middle-school&year=2012)
(www.nksd.net/familylearningcenter). As an assumed result of recession and a slowly recovering economy today, the number of Davisville Middle School students recieving lunch assistance has sharply increased to 13% since 2001. Although nutritional and financial needs of students have sharply increased, academic progress has in spite of all odds increased as well. This leads me to conclude that learning delivery, test preparation training, and curriculum changes have improved overall academic success. In addition, it seems that the school based nutritional support services are helping to better prepare children to learn throughout tough economic times for their families.
2013-2014 school year:
6th Grade Reading-84%
6th grade Math-77%
7th Grade Reading-79%
7th Grade math 68%
8th gr reading 87%
Writing 78%
Math 77%
In 2001-2002, 16%of Davisville students participated in the free or reduced lunch program. Achievement test score results from this time period are only given for the 8th grade which are the following:
8th Grade Math-50%
8th Grade Reading-60%
8th Grade Writing-65
2006 Statewide NECAP
8th Grade Reading- 56%
8th Grade Writing- 48%
8th Grade Math-47%
2009-10 NECAP
2012-2013 NECAP
8th Grade Writing-56%
8th Grade Reading-74%
8th Grade Math-57%
I conclude from the data that there has been a lot of improvement in the test scores overall since NCLB and Race to the Top were put in place. I will assume that more resources are being placed upon test readiness and testing in general of math, reading, and writing subjects of learning. Teacher quality may also have increased with increased teacher preparation requirements and higher score benchmarks by the RI Department of Education. The overall test scores for Davisville Middle have gone up even though the students in need of nutritional assistance has increased by 12% This leads me to believe that there are nutritional assistance programs at the school to address hunger challenged students which would help to explain the increased scores across the board. There are also support services for school supplies, tutoring, and counseling available to all students which is essential for children to be prepared to learn and to thrive throughout the school year as well as the summer months.
I am also aware of other support systems such as a 21st Century Skills grant funded and partially privately funded Monday through Friday After School Enrichment Program, an on-campus Family Learning Center, and the Blessings in a Backpack program which address student needs for essential school supplies, counseling, tutoring, year-round nutritional challenges, and student self-esteem building learning opportunities with peers beyond the regular school day. For FY 2012, $189,658 was allocated to North Kingstown School District(RI Senate Allocations, FY 2012, www.ri.gov). Dr. Michele Humbryrd explained to the school district that the NCLB and RTTT funding helped pay for new teaching staff members, common core standards support materials, instructional improvement method training, PARCC Assessment development, educator training opportunities,hiring of additional support staff, and improved technology for the district's classrooms(www.nksd.net/schoolcommitteeminutes).
The following RIDE data explains the excellent progress being made by the students and staff at Davisville Middle School. The commended status is not far from reality for Davisville Middle as you can see from the chart I have included below(www.infoworks.ride.ri.gov). After more than a decade of additional funding for wraparound services for North Kingstown's neediest student population as well as making effective investments, Davisville Middle School is well on its way to joining its sister school Wickford Middle as a Commended School by the Rhode Island Department of Education. Fortunately, the funds allocated by state, federal, and private funding sources were used to improve education for all North Kingstown School District students which is indicated by higher overall student academic achievement not only at Davisville Middle School, but also district-wide.
The following are the Race to The Top goals for North Kingstown School District for 2009-2014:
District Goals and Performance Measures 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Students entering the fourth grade will be proficient in reading on NECAP
79% - 80 83 86 90
-The gap between white and black students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between white and Hispanic students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between non-economically disadvantaged students and economically disadvantaged students will be cut in
half. 2009-24% - 2011-20% 2012-17% 2013- 14% 2014-12%
-The gap between students without IEPs and those with IEPs will be cut in half
2009-67%,2011 - 60%,2012- 52% 2013-44%, 2014- 34%
Students entering the fourth grade will be proficient in mathematics on NECAP
2009-73%, 2010 - 77%,2012- 83%, 2013- 87%, 2014- 90%
-The gap between white and black students will be cut in half.
--- - - - - -
-The gap between white and Hispanic students will be cut in half.
--- - - - - -
-The gap between non-economically disadvantaged students and economically disadvantaged students will be cut in
half 2009-23%, 2011 - 20%,2012- 17%,2013- 14%,2014- 12%
-The gap between students without IEPs and those with IEPs will be cut in half
2009-55%,2011 - 50%,2012- 44%,2013- 36%, 2014- 28%
Students entering the eighth grade will be proficient in reading on NECAP
2009-84%,2011- 85%, 2012- 86%,2013- 88%,2014- 90%
-The gap between white and black students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between white and Hispanic students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between non-economically disadvantaged students and economically disadvantaged students will be cut in
half 2009-32%,2011 - 28%,2012- 24%,2013- 20%,2014- 16%
-The gap between students without IEPs and those with IEPs will be cut in half
2009-60%,2011- 50%,2012- 42%,2013- 36%, 2014-30%
Students entering the eighth grade will be proficient in mathematics on NECAP
2009-69%,2011 - 73%, 2012-77%,2013- 81%,2014- 85%
-The gap between white and black students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between white and Hispanic students will be cut in half
--- - - - - -
-The gap between non-economically disadvantaged students and economically disadvantaged students will be cut in
half 2009-44%,2011- 36%,2012- 32%,2013- 28%,2014- 22%
-The gap between students without IEPs and those with IEPs will be cut in half
2009-53%,2011- 48%,2012- 42%,2013- 35%,2014- 27%
85% of students who first entered 9th grade 4 years prior will graduate from high school
2009-92%, 2011 - 93%,2012- 93%,2013- 94%,2014- 94%
77% of students who graduate from high school will enroll in an institution of higher education (IHE) within 16
months of receiving a diploma 2009-79%,2011 - 81%,2012- 82%,2013- 83%,2014- 84%
90% of students who enroll in an institution of higher education will complete at least one year's worth of
credit within two years of enrollment in the IHE 2009-91%,2011%- 92%,2012- 92%,2013- 93%,2014- 93%
--- = Gaps are not displayed where the number of students tested in either of the subgroups being compared is less than 10.
NA = No performance measures are availabl e for this item due to the grade configuration or due to the opening date of this LEA.
Above are excellent goals that have been met or surpassed by many North Kingstown schools. This district had goals and has a focus on children and helping all students to be effective and successful learners(NKSD School District Budget Request Document, January 10.2011, Town Council Minutes, p. 11).
"Proficiency" means the number of students who are proficient or better(30 possible points).
"Progress" means whether or not the school is meeting its target scores(10 possible points).
"Gap Closure" stands for whether or not a school is serving all students including students who are learning challenged or ESL(30 possible points).
"Distinction" means the number of students who have excelled in all NECAP areas(5 possible points). Growth refers to whether or not ALL students are making progress at the school(25 possible points).
"Graduation rates" is a high school's ability to promote its students (high schools only with possible 20 point score, measure does not apply to middle schools or elementary schools)
"High School Score change" is whether the graduation and NECAP score rates improve each year for a possible 5 points, again not applying to Davisville Middle School's AMO Summary.
Each year, at year's end, schools are classified from best to worst with the following designations with Commended as the absolute best designation you can receive and Priority being the worst.
Here are the school designation definitions:
Commended-(Highest Rhode Island Grade School Designation)Strongest performance across categories while serving all students well.
Leading-Strong gains in reading and math, few gaps between groups of students and/or showing student improvement.
Typical-Performance at or near state average with pockets of success and/or challenges in one or more subject areas.
Warning-Combination of low achievement in reading and math, unacceptable learning gaps, little to no student achievement or poor graduation rates as well as failure to test
required number of students in the school.
Focus-Below standard achievement in math and reading and/or unacceptable achievment gaps.
Priority-The worst of the worst ranking a school can get which is attained through having the least achievement in reading and math, intolerable learning gaps in student performance, and little to no progress in improving student outcomes.
The RI school rating system used to classify a school is broken into a 100 point score per school that is achieved by exceling in seven specific school wide benchmarks in regard to NECAP or New England Common Assessment Program scores.
As you can deduct from the above NECAP scores, Davisville has more than cut achievement and learner gaps by more than half, their RI Department of Education mandated goal,which is why it has scored a point below the "Commended " status and will likely be a "Commended" school in the next few years if the same rate of progress takes place in those academic years. If Principal Logan continues to employ highly qualified teachers, uses the same or more intense professional development plan, and retains excellent veteran teahcers, she can lead Davisville to "Commended" status.
Davisville Middle School has a score of and met its Annual Yearly Progress goals for the last three years on record of 2010-13. Data retrieved from Infoworks RI. 2010-2013.
http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/kevin-k-coleman-elementary-school/ayp/summary-report/2010/3
Newport
Rogers High School was founded in 1873 when William Sanford Rogers donated $100,000 to Newport “for the education of youth”. It took the place of Newport High School which had been founded in 1843. It serves as the only high school in the Newport Public School District and moved to its current location in 1957. The school mascot is the Vikings and the symbol is the Rogers family coat of arms, in honor of the founder. There were 587 students at the school for the 2012-2013 school year with 60 teachers. The student body is slightly more diverse than most of Rhode Island with 72.2% self reporting as white compared with 78.3% at the state level. (“About Rogers High School,” n.d.)
At first glance, Rogers High School seems to be a school that is moving in the wrong direction in mathematics and is a shining success in reading. In 2000 over 60%*^ of the students were found to be “meeting standards” in math and fewer than 40% were “meeting standards” in reading. In 2013 the percentage of students “proficient” at math was 25% and 80% were “proficient” in reading. These numbers would be justifiable cause for alarm at the quality of mathematic instruction at Rogers High School if “meeting standards” was equivalent to “proficient”. The problem comes when one realizes that the state of Rhode Island adopted the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) in 2005 and revised the grading scale of the NECAP for 11th graders in 2008. Either of these events makes it difficult to track progress over time and the two of them together complicates things even more. The same issue derails the ability to celebrate the amazing increase in reading ability.#
Based on test scores, it is not possible to definitively say if No Child Left Behind (NCLB) or Race to the Top (RTTT) have been effective. Due to the total shift in testing standards since the passing of NCLB legislation in the early 21st century, it is difficult to say whether the education reforms have been successful or detrimental to Rogers High School. Tracking tested “proficiency” across multiple years is difficult and, due to the constantly changing tests and scoring systems, makes drawing reasonable and useful conclusions almost impossible. Since NCLB started in the early 2000’s the exams used to test proficiency changed to the NECAP, and the definition of proficiency was changed making it difficult to get an independent gauge of NCLB’s impact on Rogers High School. The new scoring scale for the NECAP, which went into effect the year before RTTT began, destroys any frame of reference for RTTT and makes it challenging to compare pre-RTTT Rogers High School with post-RTTT Rogers High School.
There are too many confounding factors to say whether the reform movement has helped with non-academic aspects of student life at Rogers High School. The quality of life indicators at Rogers High School seem like a condemnation of NCLB and RTTT. Since the year 2000 graduation rates have dropped from 87.01% (4% higher than Rhode Island average) to 68.2% (11.5% lower than Rhode Island average).The number of students eligible for free/reduced lunch has risen from 29% to 45%(“Rogers High School,” 2013). This is especially notable because the 17% increase in Rogers High School student eligibility occurred over the same time it took the state of Rhode Island to see an 11% increase in eligibility. Not only was the increase in eligibility larger than the state average, it brought Rogers High School from 6% below the state average to just 1% below the state average for subsidized lunch.
The only way for test scores to meaningfully diagnose the state of education in a school is for the test materials and scoring systems to be consistent and comparable. Since the inception of NCLB, the testing format or the scoring system has changed every 4-5 years, which makes meaningful analysis of the data close to impossible. RTTT started at the same time as the test score overhaul giving no frame of reference for whether it has been successful. The data points from the 5 years it has been active vary by as much as 20% “proficiency” between years with no clear trend to the data. (“Rogers High School,” 2013) Based on the inconsistencies in testing at the state level, the most useful tool for discovering the impact of NCLB and RTTT seems to be the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test. Unfortunately, for the scope of this project, the data is confidential, therefore the scores are not linked to a given school and so NCLB and RTTT's impact on Rogers High School cannot be deciphered from it.
About Rogers High School. (n.d.). Rogers High School. Retrieved from http://www.npsri.net/domain/88
Rogers High School. (2013). InfoWorks. Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/rogers-high-school
Rogers High School Assesment and Demographics. (2000). Information Works! Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2000/queries/findschc.idc?ID=21111
Rogers High School Learning and Achievement: Assessments. (2009). Information Works! Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/pdf/achievement/21111H-achi.pdf
Rhode Island Education Survey Suite. (2013, 2014). Rogers High School Survey Works. Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/files/surveyworks/2013-2014/combined/surveyworks-2013-2014-rogers-high-school-student-parent-teacher-hs.pdf
*^Pre-2005 data from tests given to 10th graders. After 2005 NECAP scores are from 11th graders (for future bibliography)
William J. Underwood School
Brief Introduction:
The William J. Underwood School was one of four elementary schools serving students in Newport between kindergarten and fourth grade, but it is closed in June 2013. 195 children attend William J. Underwood School and identify primarily as Black, non-Hispanic; White, non-Hispanic; and Multiracial. According to the data of 2012-2013, White students took 71% (state average: 63%), Hispanic students took 16% (state average: 22%), Native American took 7% (state average: 1%), 7% of students are multiracial (state average: 3%), 4% of students are African-American (state average: 8%), 1% is Asian-American (state average: 3%).(Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013) Its principal was Kimberly Behan. William J. Underwood Elementary School met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2009. In this passage, I will collect data of this school and analyze them to see the development of it and the effect of educational reforms on it.
Student Achievement on Math in Third Grade
In 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, 68% and 79% of students met the state standards. Compared with the state average level which are 60% both years, Underwood students scored better in math test. Looking back to 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, 86% and 47% students met the standards, from which we can see that the score of students in these two year dropped a lot and the average of these two year are lower than 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013)
With the unchanged attendance rate of 95%, from 2005 to 2013, the stability and mobility index changed from 61% (Average RI elementary school: 85%) and 39%(Average RI elementary school:18%) to 77% (Statewide: 87%) and 25% (Statewide: 14%), thus this school's population of citizens was becoming more and more stable, but compared with average level, is still a little more mobile. In 2005-2006, 35% students are eligible for subsidized lunch, while, in 2012-2013, it changed to 39%. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2006 & 2013)
- Conclusion
According the the data above, from 2005 to 2013, Underwood school really did better gradually. It kept a high rate of attendance and made the population of citizens more stable. Although the rate of poor students became a little higher, the academic performance of this school became much better.Have current reform efforts such as NCLB and RTTT affected RI schools?
It's hard to say if NCLB created a good efficiency on this school because the rate of students who met the state standards in assessment kept varying a lot after NCLB started at the beginning of 21st century until 2011. In the recent years, the pattern or the rate of students who met the state standards kept much more even and higher than before, so I think maybe this phenomenon is related to RTTT. However, I cannot say for sure that RTTT made schools improve a lot because the result of assessment depends a lot on the standards of the test.
1. William J. Underwood School - School and District data - RIDE InfoWorks. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/william-j-underwood-schoolReference list:
2. Information Works! 2009 : School Reports. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/queries/FindSch.asp
3. William J. Underwood Elementary School — Newport Patch — Patch.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://newport.patch.com/listings/william-j-underwood-elementary-school
4. Schools for sale - NewportRI.com l News and information for Newport, Rhode Island: Page One. (n.d.). Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.newportri.com/newportdailynews/news/page_one/schools-for-sale/article_8a06489a-500e-59b6-a758-1108ddb233c6.html
Frank E. Thompson Middle School is a middle school in Newport, Rhode Island. Thompson has 379 students that are of various demographics. This school is an interesting place because it is in downtown Newport. Newport is a place that is highly visited in the summers by wealthy individuals and has been since the early 1900s. After the tourists and families with summer homes leave for the school year and the fall starts creeping in, you start to see a different kind of Newport. Students of all backgrounds enter their schools to begin the school year. Thompson Middle School is a good description of the Newport's residents. The school is 69 percent white and 37 percent black with 69 percent of the students receiving subsidized lunch. The middle school underwent construction from 2007-2010. During which time all grades were scattered throughout Newport. The brand new school, replacing the old building is located on Broadway in Newport. There isn't a field for physical education classes because the school is in the middle of the city. The students use various public parks nearby for outdoor activities. Over the years Thompson has had three different principals and numerous deans running the school(s) (different facilities throughout Newport during 2007-2010. When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) hit Newport the students' reading and math scores did improve slightly, but with the amount of money of NCLB its pedagogies, the research indicates that NCLB might not have been the reason of why students started doing better. I chose to research Thompson Middle School because I'm interested in the differences in incomes and zoning in Newport. Newport is such a fascinating place, that many of us forget that there is a high percentage of section 8 housing and poverty between the mansions and yachts.
Looking at the academic performance of 8th graders from 2000-2001 it shows that before No Child Left Behind was put into place almost half of the students (41 percent) were proficient with reading and only 25 percent were proficient in math. Once NCLB was put into place reading scores improved did improve for the 2008-2009 school year for the 8th graders. (http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/pdf/ds-achieve/21d-achi.pdf) The percentage of proficiency went from 41 to 52 percent. (http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2002/pdf/21d-p1.pdf) There isn't enough research to determine why this was the case and there are probably multiple confounding variables, but one potential thought would be with NCLB, teachers were teaching more to the test and thus the students showed significant improvement. These are also two different sets of tests I am comparing. The tests from 2001-2002 could have been a much more difficult test. But, it is safe to conclude that if NCLB was sent out to schools across the nation to improve test scores, regardless of how teaching would be done to improve them, then NCLB did do slight improvement at Thompson Middle School in reading.
As far as math scores go, Thompson Middle School shows that in 2001-2002 only 25 percent of the 8th grade student population were proficient. That is significantly below average. After NCLB was put into place the 8th grade math scores rose to 42 percent proficient. This is a pretty significant increase. As far as understanding how this happened and why this happened, more research would need to be done in order to determine what the school did differently. NCLB definitely helped Thompson Middle School in math proficiency, according to standardized test data, not according to anything else.
With this brief data it is hard to say if No Child Left Behind made a positive difference at Thompson Middle School. According to the standardized test scores, it did. I'd be weary to say that NCLB worked for Thompson because I do not have the research to prove that it did. The tests results show that if the teachers were teaching to the test, then their scores were risen as such. If the test results prove that teachers were trying different learning approaches and strategies and students were as a whole completely comprehending the learning pedagogies, then NCLB worked. NCLB was put in place in order for schools to show how well they were doing. If school came down to just strictly test scores, then it is valid to say that Thompson Middle School improved significantly once NCLB was put into place.
Data Obtained From Infoworks:
http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/default.asp
http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/
Thompson Middle School State Assessments 8th grade 2000-2001, 2008-2009 (With No Child Left Behind and without No Child Left Behind)
Different Tests: Looking at data if No Child Left Behind Made A Difference
Math Percentages 8th grade TMS 2008-2009
42% proficient
22% below
27% far below
Math Percentages 8th grade TMS 2000-2001
25% proficient
29% barely
20% far below
Reading Percentages 8th grade TMS 2008-2009
52% proficient
22% below
10% far below
Reading Percentages 8th grade TMS 2000-2001
41% proficient
31% below
19% far below
All information obtained from:
http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/
http://www.rikidscount.org/matriarch/default.asp
http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/default.asp
Central Falls
In the 2005-2006 school year, according to the No Child Left Behind report card, Calcutt was classified as making Insufficient Progress; only 22 of the 29 evaluated targets were met. NECAPs were given for the first time that year and the student population was 842 with 80 teachers. Although data for the ethnic breakdown of Calcutt was unavailable, district-wide 68% of the students were Hispanic, 18% were white and 14% were African American. Per pupil spending that year was $12,744, with 24% receiving bilingual/ESL services, much higher than the 3.7% receiving those services throughout the state. According to the same report 0% of students at Calcutt were receiving special education services, though that seems hard to believe. Of those students, 78% were eligible for free or reduced lunches, while only 33.3% qualified in the state (Infoworks 2006 Calcutt Student Information, 2007). Test results that year showed significant gaps in achievement between Calcutt 8th graders and those throughout RI. 16% of 8th grade students were math proficient, compared with 48% in RI; 27% were reading proficient, against 55% state-wide, and writing proficiency was 18%, significantly lower than the state result of 48%
(Infoworks 2006 Report Card Calcutt Middle School, 2006).
For the 2013-2014 school year, Calcutt's accountability summary led it to be classified as a Priority school, with only 2 of the evaluated targets being met (Infoworks 2012-2013 accountability summary Calcutt Middle School, 2013). The school educated 588 students in grades from 5-8 attend and were taught by 50 teachers. Students' ethnic backgrounds were reported as 71% Hispanic (74% district), 12% white (10% district) and 14% African America n (13% district). Per pupil spending rose to $18,910, an increase of $6,166 per student from the 2006-2006 school year. 94% of its students were eligible for subsidized lunches, compared with 46% in the state; 26% are receiving bilingual/ESL education,compared to 6% state-wide. While 24% of Calcutt students are receiving special education services, 15% are in Rhode Island. In the 2013-2014 school year, 8th graders once again took the NECAP tests in writing, reading and math. 15% of students were classified as proficient in the math, compared with 57% throughout the state. 39% of Calcutt students were proficient in reading, while in RI 74% were; 13% achieved proficiency in writing, while 56% were proficient state-wide (Infoworks 2013-14 Calcutt Middle School information, 2014). Interestingly, those two targets that were met on the NECAPs were reading and math for white students. All other ethnic groups fell below the intended targets.
Given the significant increase in per pupil spending between the 2005-2006 and the 2013-2014, No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top have had an influence at Calcutt. However, whether or not that money resulted in better student achievement can be open to interpretation. Reading scores improved from 27% to 39%, which is significant. However, math scores decreased 1%,and although that is not enough to say they were worse, it certainly is not enough to claim a victory. As for writing, the percentage dropped from 18% proficiency to 13%. If reading scores are the only indicator of success, it could be argued that the additional money served its intended purpose, but adding math and writing to the equation certainly makes success less clear.
Central Falls, and Calcutt Middle school in particular, has a student population that is far more diverse, with more needs than the rest of Rhode Island. Calcutt has seen a significant decrease in student population, though there are still far more students receiving free and subsidized lunches, ESL/bilingual education and special education services than the rest of the state. Given the costs of those services one can see how the per pupil expenditure can be high. When using only NECAP test results to analyze whether that money is being well spent, it appears that the funds poured in through No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top have not achieved what their supporters had hoped.
References:
Programs/Activities. (n.d.). Calcutt Middle School. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://calcutt.cfschools.net/programsactivities.html
Infoworks 2006 Calcutt Student Information. (2007). Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/pdf/ds-usinginfo/04d-info.pdf
Infoworks 2006 equity and adequacy of resources report. (2007). Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2007/pdf/ds-insite-bar/04d-expb.pdf
Infoworks 2006 Report Card Calcutt Middle School. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.eride.ri.gov/reportcard/06/ReportCard.aspx?schCode=04115&schType=2
Infoworks 2013-14 Calcutt Middle School information. (2014). Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/calcutt-middle-school
Infoworks State school data. (2014). Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/state/ri
*(Image from google)
The following report will examine the demographics of Central Falls, the level of poverty within the school and the past few years data of NECAP testing in Central Falls High School. With this data, I hope to make conclusions about whether or not NCLB or RTTT have demonstrated a helpful alteration to this particular school.
"The mission of Central Falls High School is to cultivate academic, social and civic responsibility within the school community as we prepare students for participation in global society." Central Falls High School's goal was once considered a far reach considering the publicity the school has received within the past few years. Central Falls High School is noted as Rhode Islands lowest performing high school. The demographics of the school include a large number of ELL students and a larger proportion of blacks and Hispanics than whites. Central Falls as a whole has a greater number of children requiring free or reduced lunch indicating poverty. Central Falls also has a larger amount of crime and a larger proportion of single mothers (Kids Count).
The school website highlights that they are currently employing "transformation efforts" in order to increase graduation rates, improve proficiency in math and improve the school climate and culture. It might seem strange at first that the first thing a school would say about itself is a kind of apologetic description, however, in light of the recent education reform, the Common Core and the NECAP testing, the school has taken a lot of battering from commentators and education administration over the last few years.
In April of 2010, around 70 teachers, a few staff members, and the principal were fired from Central Falls High School. Despite the teacher’s union being against the proposal for reform of the school, the Central Falls school board voted to fire the teachers on recommendation from Frances Gallo, the school’s superintendent (huffpost). The school had a graduation rate of 48% and was known as the lowest performing school in Rhode Island (usa today)
NPR reporter, Claudio Sanchez, writes that the Central Falls school board re-hired the teachers on the condition that they would partake and support the school’s new reform “transformation.” However, since the rehiring, more teachers have been fired. Josh Karten, a history and business teacher for four years at Central Falls High School tells NPR reporters about his coping with the transformation and then being fired. NPR quotes Karten, saying that “Karten's enthusiasm took a dive after he was put in charge of the "restoration" room, a holding pen for the school's most disruptive students.” Karten asserts that the High School would not allow him to teach. Dispite Kartens purported struggle with the transformation, Superintendent Frances Gallo, asserts that there were valid reasons for firing Karten, and that it is unfortunate that he does not understand. Gallo and the Obama Administration seek to fix Central Falls High School by holding teachers accountable for students work and asserting that low expectations may be the cause of the school failing standardized tests as a whole (Sanchez, 2011).
Data from InfoWorks (2014) shows that there is a decrease in student attendance of 86% to 83% from 2001-2014. When evaluating the socioeconomic status there are a few indicators that one can observe. The stability index measures the percentage of students that have stayed in the district. The stability index went from 70% to 78% from 2001-2014. The mobility index measures the attrition rate of the school. The mobility index went from 41% to 24% 2001-2014. Possibly indicating that, despite a decrease in attendance, the population of citizens has become more stable over this period of time. The mobility indicates a less stable environment within the district, but it seems to be improving.
It is possible that some residents of Central Falls may have applied to charters, but there are only a couple of charter high school options within the immediate area. Currently, the student to teacher ratio is 13:1. Central Falls School District itself has a majority of students living in poverty as assessed by student eligibility for subsidized lunch programs, which decreased from 77% to 70% from 2001-2014. The majority of the students speak a language other than English, and the majority of the students are Hispanic in ethnicity.
Despite poverty and high amounts of ELL students, the school serves around 900 students and offers a variety of programs that they call Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELOs). The school uses the Common Core standards and also Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). There is also a common planning time for the teachers and students to review their progress, and they use Response to Intervention (RTI) methods to help struggling students to reach the benchmark goals in academics. Central Falls High School is the only high school served in its district.
Have current reform efforts such as NCLB and RTTT affected RI schools, especially those that serve Rhode Island's most impoverished students?
In 2001, NCLB was implemented in the United States, and around 2010, a mass firing and rehiring of teachers occurred. Central Falls High School was noted as a target school for reform turnaround. The school's superintendent, Frances Gallo, fired all of the teachers at the school to prevent a strike back from the teacher's union, changed the structure of the school's education system, then re-hired the teachers back into the district in 2010. With this in mind, one might hypothesize that the data from before 2010 may be very different from the data after 2010, when the teachers were re-hired.
The graphs above show the NECAP scores for math and reading in CF as compared to RI (InfoWorks, 2014). It appears to be increasing.
As compared to the statewide average of NECAP. These are the current documented scores:
CF
Math - 12%
Reading - 53%
Writing - 35%
Science - 8%
RI
Math - 35%
Reading - 81%
Writing - 66%
Science - 30%
The information below shows the scores of Central Falls High School before the 2010 reform movement. The only scores that went down were those for reading:
The graphs below show proficiency of the NECAP over the course of 3 years for Math and Reading. The categories of gender, race and status are separated. This is useful because it is easier to identify social inequalities from this graph. The trend of the graph appears to be generally upward:
It appears that proficiency is improving, however slightly. Central Falls does remain below the state average. One would argue that reform efforts, although raising test scores by a few points, have not made their purported improvements after the reform. It might be that NCLB or RTTT have an effect, but it is also just as likely that the stability of the district and lowered attrition rates played a part, or that the teachers this year got stuck with kids who could score better on the standardized test. There is still no mounting evidence that firing teachers for student achievement will improve a school, however, there is mounting evidence that Central Falls High School is improving.
References:
Central Falls High School. (2014). About us. cfschools.net, Retrieved from http://cfhs.cfschools.net/about-us.html
Baron, J. (2014, May 15). Senate knocks NECAP. The Times, P. A2
Information Works. (2014). Central Falls Senior High School. Measuring Rhode Island Schools for Change 2009, Retrieved from http://infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2009/queries/FindSch.asp
InfoWorks. (2014). Central Falls District. Rhode Island Education Data Reporting, Retrieved from infoworks.ride.ri.gov/district/central-falls
Kanalley, C. (2010). Rhode Island Teachers FIRED: Central Falls High School Officially Fires All Teachers. Huffington Post, Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/rhode-island-teachers-fir_n_475234.html
Sanchez, C. (2011, June 13). Changes at R.I. School Fail to Produce Results. National Public Radio, Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2011/06/13/137116333/central-falls
Stanglin, D. (2010, February 24). All teachers, principals fired at poor performing R.I. school. USA Today, Retrieved from http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/02/school-board-fires-principal-and-every-teacher-at-poor-performing-high-school/1
Have current reform efforts such as NCLB and RTTT affected RI schools, especially those that serve Rhode Island's most impoverished students?
Introduction:
Part of the recent push within educational reform includes an emphasis on charter schools as a potential solution to low-performing schools. Central Falls is a low-income city in Rhode Island that is home to both public and charter schools. The Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls serves a high percentage of children living in poverty. More recently the Charter School “Learning Community” was opened nearby and serves some of the same population. Looking at the academic proficiency of both schools in the 2004-2005 and 2012-2013 school years will help answer the question of if a charter school serving the same population is an effective reform effort under NCLB. Below the standardized tests of both schools are examined in order to understand improvements or declines in both schools' performance.
Calcutt Middle School:
(“Families/Students,” n.d.)
The Calcutt Middle School was classified as a "low-performing school" which was "not improving" in 2001. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2001) At the time in 2000-2001, 73% of students were eligible for subsidized lunch. The student body was 62% Hispanic, 10% Black and 28% White, 25% of students received ESL and 23% are recipients of special ed service. The demographics of the school have changed and become more impoverished. In 2012-2013 94% of students were eligible for subsidized lunch as opposed to 46% statewide, and 73% in 2000-2001. Students receiving ESL were 26% versus 6% of state and students receiving special education were 24% versus 15% of the state. Below are the test patterns of the school years 2004-2005 and 2012-2013 when NECAP testing is available. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013)
In Math, the Culcutt School performed significantly worse than the state average in 2004-2005, and only slightly narrowed the gap in 2012-2013. However, the school performance did increase and the school is now classified as demonstrating “moderate improvement.” Below the Calcutt improvement can be seen by examining the blue (2004-2005) and green lines(2012-2013) in comparison with the state results (red: 2004-2005 and purple: 2012-2013). It is evident that more students were proficient in math by 2012-2013, and fewer were substantially below the proficient level. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013)
For reading, a similar trend can be seen below:
Students at Culcutt performed below the state average in 2004-2005, and also in 2013-2014. When comparing the school’s progress over time it shows moderate improvement in rates of proficiency in reading (26% proficient or proficient with distinction in 2004-2005 compared to 36% proficient or proficient with distinction in 2013-2014).
In writing Culcutt’s scores decreased over time as seen below:
In 2004-2005 19% of students were proficient or proficient with distinction, and in 2013-2014 only 12% of students were proficient or proficient with distinction. (Rhode Island Department of Ed, 2013) The data shows that Culcutt school have improved in reading and math, but decreased slightly in writing. This demonstrates that NCLB and RTTT have marginally benefitted the Culcutt Middle School regardless of the role of the charter school in the area.
The Learning Community:
(Learning Community, n.d.)
The Learning Community is a Charter School located near the Culcutt Middle School that was established in 2004 and has continued to grow in size over the last ten years. Differing from some criticism of charter schools, The Learning Community serves a very similar population as Culcutt Middle School. In 2012-13, 94% of students were eligible for subsidized lunch, the same percentage as Culcutt Middle School. In addition, 32% of students are ELL and 11% special education services.(Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013). Despite serving a very challenging and expensive population, as seen in the three charts below, the Learning Community outperforms the state and the Culcutt Middle School in every category.
Reading comparison: In Reading the Learning Community has higher levels of proficiency than both the state and Culcutt and significantly lower levels of "substantially below proficient" than Culcutt:
Math: In Math, a similar trend can be seen in which Learning Community outscores both the state and its neighboring Culcutt school substantially:
Writing: Again, in Writing the Learning Community shows higher levels of proficiency than either the state or Culcutt school:
In conclusion, the changes between years show some improvement in Culcutt scores, but with so many factors it is difficult to made strong and definite conclusions. No Child Left Behind and Race to The Top may or may not have had an impact on Culcutt School. Because the increase in scores was insignificant when compared to the state progress, it is difficult to make any firm conclusions. What is clear is that the Learning Community outscores the state and the Culcutt School in every category and by significant differences.
Bibliography:
Families/Students. (n.d.). Calcutt Middle School. Retrieved July 22, 2014, from http://calcutt.cfschools.net/familiesstudents.html
Learning Community. (n.d.). Photos Learning Community. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/learning_community/6173264044/in/set-72157627729669176
Rhode Island Department of Ed. (2001). InfoWorks: Rhode Island Middle Schools: 2001. Retrieved from http://www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2002/performance/performance-middle.pdf
Rhode Island Department of Ed. (2013). InfoWorks: Calcutt Middle School//. Retrieved from http://www.infoworks.ride.uri.edu/2002/performance/performance-middle.pdf